“They love him,” Maria said. “They can’t stay away from him. They are always asking: “Baby are you OK. ... I know they will be helping me change him and feed him the bottle.”

Despite living in Oakville, Maria said she chose to deliver the baby at Danbury Hospital because of the “wonderful staff” and “good treatment and care” she received while delivering her two daughters there.

The doctor determining her due date was almost right on — giving Maria Dec. 31. He only missed by 22 seconds. As a result, Richard won’t be a deduction on the family’s 2018 federal income tax return.

But that’s not a concern for either parent.

“I’m just grateful everyone’s doing well,” said Gerardo, who owns Vickos Landscaping, and serves clients in the Danbury area.

The parents say they chose the first name to honor two longtime friends who helped mentor Gerardo — Richard Margulies, a lawyer who now lives in Georgia, and Richard Colonel, of Newtown. The middle name Eugene was chosen to honor Gerardo’s late uncle, Eugene Sanchez.

“My priority as a parent is to raise my children to be respectful human beings,” Gerardo said. “I try to teach them everything I can about the business. I want them to do well in school. All my children are involved in the martial arts, which teaches them not only how to defend themselves, but discipline.”

Richard Eugene Ramirez wasn’t the only baby to arrive in Connecticut New Years’ Day.

Sharleene Russell, of Hamden, gave birth to a boy at 12:54 a.m. at Yale New Haven Hospital. The baby weighed 3 lbs., 10 ounces and is Russell’s fourth child.

“Mother and baby are doing well,” a hospital spokesperson said.

At 1:20 a.m., Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington delivered its first baby of the new year when Anne Endicott and Joshua Mocaby, of Goshen, welcomed Corina Scott Mocaby, the couple’s fourth baby and first daughter.

Endicott said her due date for Corina, who weighed 7 lbs., 13 ounces, was Dec. 23, so giving birth to the first baby of 2019 in Torrington was not something she considered.

“We’re just really happy she’s finally here,” Endicott said.

The first baby born this year at Greenwich Hospital came at 4:54 a.m. New parents Melissa and Patrick Lawrence, of New Rochelle, N.Y., welcomed baby Nathaniel Jesus Lawrence, weighing 7 lbs., 7 ounces. The hospital said Melissa and Patrick met on Match.com.

According to the hospital, Lana’s expected birth date was Dec. 26. Mom Jessica was born at the same hospital.

“We are so thankful for a happy and healthy baby, and I am looking forward to Jessica being the mom that she has always wanted to be,” Chad Dean said in a statement from the hospital.

As of 7:45 p.m., Bridgeport Hospital had yet to report its first birth of the year.

“This is the latest I can remember of us not having a New Year’s baby,” said John Cappiello, a hospital spokesman.

According to Hartford Hospital, its first baby of the year was a boy named Kevin, born at 1:03 a.m.

The United States Census Bureau projected in 2017 about 4.08 million births in the country during 2018 and projects 4.1 million births in 2019.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the American general fertility rate reached an all-time low in 2017 — 60.3 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age, a 3 percent decrease from 2016 — and the number of reported births was the lowest since 1987.

Pew Research Center researchers said a survey conducted in the summer of 2018 concluded 71 percent of U.S. parents younger than 50 say it is unlikely they will have more children, and 37 percent of childless adults under 50 say they don’t expect to ever become parents. Four in 10 parents who cited at least one reason they did not expect to have more children said medical reasons play a role, whereas a quarter said their age was a factor.

Pew researchers said the fertility rate experienced dramatic declines during the Great Recession, and fertility rates had not rebounded with the gradually recovering economy over the last decade.